AMD's recommendation for TIM

[Overload]

I found this paper by amd. TIM AMD

which refers to here
for thier recommended greases

thought it might be useful or at least an interesting read for some

 

[damarble]

I started reading through those then realized I didn't care lol. But apparently AMD does not approve of AS5. It never said the names but they don't reccommend metal based TIM.

 

[deadlysyn]

Personally TBH, I am not really too concerned about it either. I love my AMD, and I also love my AS5. I have tried a few TIM's, but I still think that AS5 is the best I have used, and if AMD doesn't think that is the best way to go, so be it. I didn't actually read the articles, but I am sure that they do have their reasons, but as far as I know, the purpose of a TIM is to help the heat transfer. Doesn't AMD want their users to have the best possible temps? I just don't see that happening with the white sillycone they have provided with any of my previous AMD purchases.

 

[Silversinksam]

I started reading through those then realized I didn't care lol. But apparently AMD does not approve of AS5. It never said the names but they don't reccommend metal based TIM.

In the past AMD did not recommend any thermal paste for long term use which is rather silly especially since most enthusiasts know how awful the thermal pads are.
I haven't read that chapter 2.6.6 in it's entirety, but I believe those TIMS are only AMD approved for short term use.

The reason they really did not approve any high performance Tims like Arctic Silver 5 and Ceramique and many others are because the majority of people (not hardware enthusiasts like us) would screw up the application (Such as using a thermal paste and a thermal pad at the same time, thus making many RMA's due to CPUs failing from overheating, so they just approved the thermal pad for long tern use to alleviate the RMA's from flowing in, they know using high performance pastes are the best option, but the majority of people dont read the instructions and subsequently would be killing AMD cpu's left and right.

Some people believe MORE IS BETTER, This is what AMD is a afraid of

 

[deadlysyn]

Wow, that is a scary pic SSS. My deepest condolences to the family of that particular CPU. I feel sorry for whoever got to be the unlucky person to clean out that rig.
Edit: I see the point you are making SSS, but I also have to say that properly applied a thermal pad will never come close to the performance of some of the available TIM's.

 

[Overload]

what i found interesting is that they recommend grease for lidded cpus and pads for liddless cpu. i dont understand that unless the lid is of different flattness that is better suited for grease.

also i am not sure about the effectiveness of pads (or lack of). i have seen thermal pads with 20 w/m-k. isnt arctic silver like 10 w/m-k. I am sure that they dont use the most state of the art pads because of price and its also not necessary for most cases. for reference silver has conductance of 400w/m-k

 

[Overload]

Some people believe MORE IS BETTER, This is what AMD is a afraid of

WOW that is a lot of thermal paste. i would think a single tube wouldnt even be able to do that job!

 

[Susquehannock]

SSS hit it on the head. AMD is afraid of people making stupid mistakes and getting a capacitive paste on areas which may cause electrical shorts. One reason why for a long while the only aftermarket paste they approved was Shin Etsu G-749.

And that silver slapped CPU is a classic. Some people are definitely out of their league.

Here is one of my favorites. Look carefully, that is an AMD Athlon CPU wedged down inside the center retaining clip channel in the fins. The person gooped a bunch of Arctic Silver in there too. As if that would help. Wonder how much time that person spent trying to figure out what was wrong.

Worst part is, that was an attempted warranty return.

 

[grumperfish]

Uh... is that dust or a small animal?

 

[Adragontattoo]

Uh... is that dust or a small animal?

I think it is insulation. You wouldnt want the Megahurtz to escape!

 

[Susquehannock]

I think it is insulation. You wouldnt want the Megahurtz to escape!

Probably something like that - lol
The image is from a German PC builders page a couple years ago. They said the person attempted an RMA after they tried to install a faster CPU inside the heatsink. Obviously it did not go well.

Some of them were utterly dumbfounding. A couple returns where the installer thought the small square AMD sticker that comes with a retail CPU was a TIM pad. And one where the person cracked the mobo using a huge woodscrew to install an aftermarket NB cooler. I just cannot believe some people are stupid enough to even try to return things like that.